changing drivers

Wednesday, June 02, 2004, at 01:57PM

By Eric Richardson

Two weeks ago I commented about riding the Gold Line and having the train stop for a minute over the Los Angeles River. At the time I guessed this might have been to let Chinatown station traffic clear.

Today the same thing happened, in the same spot. This time, though, I was in the back of the front car instead of the front of the back car (more on that in a second) so I was able to see what was actually going on. The train stopped, sat for a second, and then the front right door opened. A man in a Metro uniform stepped onto the train. The driver stepped out of his cab, the new man stepped in, and the driver stepped off the train. As we began to move again I noticed that there just happened to be a stairway right there, and it clicked... Not only were we over the river, we were also over the Gold Line maintenance yard. This was their driver change location.

What are the odds, though, of riding two trains in a row that happened to be due for driver changes?